October 5, 2021 - California Wildfires

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On October 3, 2021, smoke from the Windy and KNP Complex fires in
Tulare, County, California shrouded the San Joaquin Valley with a dense
gray haze. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on
board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this true-color image on that
same day. Multiple red “hot spots” mark the areas where the thermal
bands on the MODIS instrument detected high temperatures. In this case,
the scattered hot spots in the southeastern portion of the image mark
actively burning areas along the leading edges of the two large fires,
rather than many different fires. As fires expand the fuel in the
center is consumed, so expansion occurs along the edges. When fires are
very large, there can be many active areas well away from the center.

Both the KNP Complex and Windy fires were ignited by lightning strike
on September 9-10. The KNP Complex is the more northerly of the two and
is burning in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park and Sequoia
National Forest. The September lightning storms initially ignited two
fires in that location—the Paradise and the Colony Fires—which
subsequently merged to create the KNP Complex. As of October 4, this
complex has burnt 67,708 acres and is only 11 percent contained, with
more than 1,500 personnel working the incident. There are multiple
evacuation orders in effect, including new ones issued late on October
4. The Windy Fire ignited on September 9 a quarter mile southeast of
Cholollo campground and two miles south of Camp Nelson. InciWeb
Incident Information System reports that as of the evening of October
4, the fire has affected 95,345 acres and has reached 70 percent
containment. It has continued to spread throughout the day, but with
more than 1,900 personnel working the fire and a forecast for lower
temperatures and increasing humidity as a cold front moves across the
region in the next few days containment is predicted to be October 14.

The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District warns residents
being impacted by smoke to remain indoors to reduce their exposure to
particular matter (PM) emissions. Particulate matter can trigger asthma
attacks, aggravate chronic bronchitis, and increase the risk of heart
attack and stroke. While common cloth and paper masks being used as
protection form COVID-19 may not be sufficient protection from wildfire
smoke inhalation, outdoor workers and other individuals that simply
cannot remain indoors, state health authorities recommend the use of
N95 facemasks as feasible. The Air Quality Alert is expected to
continue through October 7, when a low-pressure system moving over the
Valley is forecast to improve dispersion.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 10/3/2021
Resolutions: 1km (88.1 KB), 500m (293.5 KB), 250m (875.8
KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2021-10-05

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